Round 13 - Broncos vs Knights - Post Match Discussion

[Big Pete]

High concentration. He looked buggered to me, don't think he was used to the conditions much either.

He's a quality player and I reckon he'll cement himself a start during this period.

 

[noisetheory]

the simple fact is he needs more minutes.

he and mcullough were the only players without a missed tackle against their name (oh and dodds)

 

[Force]

I honestly dont know how many 50 point games the winning team will be disappointed with so this has got to be a first.Certain individuals had good games but overall it was ugly.Gillet had his worst game of late,Beale alot better than his outing against the Warriors,Parker better with his kicks,Glenn his usual self and Hodges was dominant and my MOM.A head scratcher this game so I hope with the SOO players out they will do better next week.

 

[noisetheory]

Hodges was dominant and my MOM.

not that it really concerns me but i found it odd there were different MoM's awarded. at the ground it was peter wallace. got home and channel 9 gave it to hodges.

 

[ningnangnong]

why does he have to have made that many in that time? all you had to do was watch the game and you could see he wasnt struggling, and was even wanting to come back on.

some of his other good matches this year:

round 1 - 45 minutes, 41 tackles 13 hitups
round 4 - 54 minutes, 45 tackles 15 hitups
round 8 - 37 minutes, 28 tackles 9 hitups
round 9 - 35 minutes, 32 tackles 10 hitups

mcguire is a big minute, big working player. hes being used horribly this year. he didnt even get get 60 minutes against the storm, 2 days after both of our props played state of origin. that was a game where he shouldve been on for all 80.

High concentration. He looked buggered to me, don't think he was used to the conditions much either.

He's a quality player and I reckon he'll cement himself a start during this period.

Just to add a bit more weight to AP's argument, McGuire used to be a backrower, didn't he? Hook asked him to play as a prop when he was coming through as a young fella in the NYC.

 

[broncos4life]

not that it really concerns me but i found it odd there were different MoM's awarded. at the ground it was peter wallace. got home and channel 9 gave it to hodges.

That often happens. The MOM on channel nine and the one at the ground are decided by different people. The one at the ground is 'the broncos' man of the match, they even give that out when we lose

 

[Steve]

Not sure what to make of yesterday. Definitelty the most frustrating game I've attended in years. To say the locals were restless would be an understatement. When the supporters themselves are calling for Gillett to be hooked you know it's been a poor afternoon.

Excellent first 20 and last 15 but everything else in between was abysmal. Massive issues defensively in the Thiaday/Gillett area of our pack. Some of those misses were embarrassing. Also I hold my breath whenever the play is directed at Reed's side. He's lost a lot of confidence in his defensive play.

I think we've conceded 100+ points over the last 3-4 weeks? Pretty concerning.

Overall relieved to get the win and pretty impressed with Wallace and Hodges but far from happy.

 

[Porthoz]

Well, that was a true Jekyll and Hyde performance… :rash:

Quite happy with the backline, except for Norman, who is clearly needing to re-evaluate his game, and allow his natural ability and instinct to lead his footy.
Obviously, Hodgo stood really tall, and stuck head and shoulders above the rest, but Hoffman, Beale, Reed and Copley were very good as well, although the latter two didn’t look good in the Naiqama try. That left edge still needs work.
I liked how Wallace guided the team around, especially since he had to cope with Norman’s lack of punch (he has such an awesome long kicking game, yet rarely uses it), and he definitely came back from an ordinary performance against the Storm.

The problem was the forward pack once Hannant and Macca went off. That was horrible defending in the ruck, especially from Hunt, Gillett and Thaiday. The Boyd line break for Buderus 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] try and the Fa’aoso try are not acceptable at U20’s level, much less in first grade!

I completely agree that one of the factors that's been buggering us, is the weird interchange rotation of late. Yesterday was as good an example as you’ll get!
I cannot understand how having a proven defender in Dodds on the bench, and seeing how we were being carved up the middle after Macca and Hannant went off, he wasn't used until the last 7 minutes of the game.
Macca can play 80 minutes, he has proven it, and it’s time to conclude the Hunt at Hooker experiment. Nothing against young Ben, as he works his butt off, but he gets found out pretty quick against a good dummy half in the opposing team.

As a rule of thumb, I would say Parker is an 80 minute player, Glenn is an 80 minute player, Hannant, Gillett, Thaiday, Te’o and McGuire are 60 minute players.
Civo is a 40 minute player at most, and if he can regain his form, he should start with Hannant, leave the field for McGuire after 20 mins, and come back for a final stint replacing Hannant.

If we start using Parker at prop next season (which I think we should), he’ll be good for 60 minutes as well, and will form an awesome rotation with Hannant and McGuire. Gillett can then go to lock and as rnabokov said, be used in a similar way as Glenn Stewart is used at Manly. Thaiday and Glenn can then keep terrorising the fringes, where they are most effective.
We have plenty of good forwards waiting for a chance, so we’ll still have the likes of Hala, Lui, Dodds, Gibbs, etc… to fill a bench with plenty of impact.

Norman has retreated in his shell a bit, which is not really surprising in his first season wearing Locky’s shoes, I mean… Who wouldn’t?
Like Gillett, I suspect the wraps they’ve been getting may have gone to their head, and they just forgot that it’s the 1%’s who separate the greats from the middle of the pack.
The ego remark is way over the top IMO, Norman is young, as is Gillett, and although their talent is visible to everyone, they don’t quite have the psychological balance necessary to cope with being at the top of a very tough sport. I trust Hook will get them back on track though.

Having said all that, let’s not forget we’re still second on the ladder after a really crappy May, which is very encouraging for the business end of the season. The form of some players will come back, and hopefully we’ll have a healthy squad with all players firing up at the end of the season.

Holy crap, I didn't realise I typed that much! :duh:

 

[pennywisealfie]

I guess at this part of the season, all that matters is the 2 points.

and I usually go on about I don't mind what happens as long as they give it their all, well they stopped playing from about 21 mins to 65 mins, however I can't really judge them, since myself as a supporter thought the game was over and when we went over for our fourth try, i barely even cheered it because i thought it was the start of more to come. So a valuble lesson would have been learned today, which is good.

 

[Coxy]

Never seen such a clear momentum changer as Hannant dropping the ball on the kickoff after the 4th try. Buderus scores on that set. Naiqama scores soon after. And Buderus scores his second from the kickoff of that try. And but for half a metre it was 24-24 at half time.

Agree about the change in defensive structure once Hannant and particularly Macca go off. Everyone knows I'm a huge fan of Ben Hunt, but he's been very poor as replacement hooker lately. It's time to send him back to Q Cup to play halfback IMO. By all means give Baptiste a go off the bench for a while, but up Maccas minutes to at least 60 per game.

Clearly Hook wants to maximise the time that Hannant and Thaiday are on the field, but both seem to be suffering with workload lately. Hannant's in great form, but 2 weeks in a row I think he's suffered by being on a couple minutes too long in his first stint.

To me what worries me is that in the last 2 home games, we've had a combined 7 minutes from our 17th man in the team. Scott Anderson didn't get on the field against Manly, and Mitchell Dodds got 7 minutes yesterday. W...T...F.

 

[mrslong]

How bad was the reffing again. What was that Hannant drop ball and we got a penalty? Then Wallace's "forward" pass to Hodges? Huh? and Glenn's nice shot on Houston was it?

It felt to me that the refs were thinking "5 mins has past, we need to blow the whistle". SO much of the possession for both teams came off the back of mediocre 50/50 penalties. Vossy made the comment that there were no scrums in the first half. This wasn't because of the "modern" game. This was because there were so many stoppages from the refs that neither team ever needed to kick for touch.

I'd have liked to see that game played over again without the impact of the ref. I would say it would have been a closer score line.

 

[noisetheory]

To me what worries me is that in the last 2 home games, we've had a combined 7 minutes from our 17th man in the team. Scott Anderson didn't get on the field against Manly, and Mitchell Dodds got 7 minutes yesterday. W...T...F.

a worry why? if mcguire can play more minutes.. if parker should be 80.. etc etc.. then someone at the end of the line has to miss out.

 

[Coxy]

a worry why? if mcguire can play more minutes.. if parker should be 80.. etc etc.. then someone at the end of the line has to miss out.

Because at the end of the Manly game our players were out on their feet. Fresh legs might've been useful!
And in the middle 40 yesterday we were getting smashed up the middle, our captain was standing in the middle looking like a turnstile, while we had a renowned middle-field defender on the bench itching for a go.

We're tiring out the wrong legs.

 

[Coxy]

How bad was the reffing again. What was that Hannant drop ball and we got a penalty? Then Wallace's "forward" pass to Hodges? Huh? and Glenn's nice shot on Houston was it?

It felt to me that the refs were thinking "5 mins has past, we need to blow the whistle". SO much of the possession for both teams came off the back of mediocre 50/50 penalties. Vossy made the comment that there were no scrums in the first half. This wasn't because of the "modern" game. This was because there were so many stoppages from the refs that neither team ever needed to kick for touch.

I'd have liked to see that game played over again without the impact of the ref. I would say it would have been a closer score line.

And there was the penalty to Boyd which came about 3 seconds after he was standing up ready to play it. Bizarre.
And the Parker "dropped ball" when Mullen's hand was in around the ball and he ripped it out so hard the ball flew in the air about 2 metres...yeah, Parker just "dropped it".

Honestly, it's no wonder the referees are unhappy with their coach...they're shit and they're worried about being bashed for their shittiness.

 

[noisetheory]

i dont want to be another basher of the refs.. tough job.. fair enough.. and sitting at the game i didnt have the best view.. but it sure did seem bad yesterday (in general, not against any one team).

 

[Coxy]

i dont want to be another basher of the refs.. tough job.. fair enough.. and sitting at the game i didnt have the best view.. but it sure did seem bad yesterday (in general, not against any one team).

Yes. This. I'm not saying it was one sided...although the 50-50 calls seemed to go with the flow of the game... funny how that happens.

Oh, and the other momentum changer was when Houston (?) got penalised for being a douchebag while his team was in possession (of the ball, not his other extracurricular activities...).

 

[Bucking Beads]

Pretty clear that Hook isn't managing the bench as well as he was last year. We don't want to run Hannant off his feet coming into the finals. McGuire is capable of big minutes but still needs to be rested. I think we need to see Thaiday take a break during games to give Gillett and Te'o more time while not losing a prop.

 

[Big Pete]

Does Glenn deserve to play 80?

Personally, I think he'd be just as effective over 60. It's not like he has an incredible workrate.